South Carolina 'not good enough' up front, leads to tough loss

Coming into the season, there were a lot of concerns about South Carolina and what it could be on the offensive line. 

After one game, those questions and concerns haven’t gone away.

The Gamecocks really struggled up front in a 31-17 loss to North Carolina, leaving more questions than answers heading into a very pivotal stretch over the next month. 

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“Not good enough. Got to play better, got to coach better…We’re sliding to somebody. The whole offensive line is sliding to someone who’s a threat and we’re still getting hit. I mean, they rushed three on the last drive–rushed three–and (we) got beat on a double team,” Shane Beamer said. 

“I mean, it’s ridiculous to give up a sack rushing three people. So that starts with me. We obviously didn’t do a good enough job of preparing our guys up front.” 

North Carolina finished with 16 tackles for loss and sacked Spencer Rattler a whopping nine times. Those are the most tackles for loss and sacks South Carolina’s allowed in a game since at least 2000 when Sports Reference’s database started. 

And because of that, the Gamecocks’ offense bogged down. South Carolina scored just 17 points against a defense that, while improved, allowed almost 31 points per game last season. 

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The Gamecocks finished scoring on just three of 12 drives, turning the ball over on downs four times and finishing with a success rate of just 37.1 percent on the night. 

“‘We’re young and inexperienced up there, but we are who we are,” Beamer said. “So those young guys got to grow up in a hurry and continue to get better. it’s not just the offensive line. it’s the tight ends and it’s the perimeter throws. It’s all of us.”

South Carolina lost starting right tackle Cason Henry on the first series of the game and rotated two left tackles at points against the Tar Heels. That led to offensive stagnation at times with those nine sacks and a stuff rate in the run game of 36 percent.

Of South Carolina’s 22 rushes, 13 of them (59 percent) went for two yards or less. 

“We’re inexperienced up there, but that’s no excuse,” Beamer said. “All those guys got to get better, have to get better. And they will.”

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When South Carolina did protect and get some push, the offense did click. The Gamecocks generated 12 chunk plays (passes of 15 yards, rushes of 10). 

But the issue was consistency between those chunk plays. They had 12 chunk plays for 266 yards. South Carolina, though, had just 98 yards on 58 plays (1.69 yards per play). 

North Carolina pressured Rattler on 18 of his 55 dropbacks (32.7 percent). When pressured, he went just 3-for-9 for 49 yards. When kept clean, Rattler was 31-for-37 for 305 yards and a 107.7 NFL passer rating. 

“We still had a lot of explosive plays. But we could have had more. I’m sure you all saw it. They were bringing a lot of blitzes. We have stuff to clean up for sure,” Rattler said. “But I’m proud of the way we fought. We showed improvement in some areas. But obviously, we’re not there yet. We’ve got to get better. But I’m proud of the way we fought.”

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Things don’t get any easier for South Carolina, which now has to find some answers up front to avoid a tough stretch to begin the year. 

The Gamecocks host a top-10 FCS opponent next week in Furman–a game they’ll be favored in–but have road trips to Georgia and Tennessee plus a home game against Mississippi State in there. 

So things have to get figured out to some degree in a hurry. 

“‘We’re young and inexperienced up there, but we are who we are. So those young guys got to grow up in a hurry and continue to get better,” Beamer said. “It’s not just the offensive line. it’s the tight ends and it’s the perimeter throws. It’s all of us.”

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